Elizabeth Hartwell Mason Neck National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge located on Mason Neck, Virginia, adjacent to Mason Neck State Park and along Belmont Bay. Established in 1969 under the protection of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, it was the first federal refuge established specifically for the protection of the bald eagle, and is currently part of the Potomac River National Wildlife Refuge Complex. The refuge is 2,277 acres (9.21 km2) in size, with 4.4 miles (7.1 km) of shoreline, and contains much oak and hickory forest. It also holds the largest freshwater marsh in northern Virginia.
Since its founding, the refuge has been renamed for Elizabeth Hartwell, a local activist who fought to keep Mason Neck free of development.
-
Boardwalk in Mason Neck
Famous quotes containing the words neck, national, wildlife and/or refuge:
“Man is the head of the family, woman the neck that turns the head.”
—Chinese aphorism.
“What do we mean by patriotism in the context of our times? I venture to suggest that what we mean is a sense of national responsibility ... a patriotism which is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime.”
—Adlai Stevenson (1900–1965)
“Russian forests crash down under the axe, billions of trees are dying, the habitations of animals and birds are layed waste, rivers grow shallow and dry up, marvelous landscapes are disappearing forever.... Man is endowed with creativity in order to multiply that which has been given him; he has not created, but destroyed. There are fewer and fewer forests, rivers are drying up, wildlife has become extinct, the climate is ruined, and the earth is becoming ever poorer and uglier.”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)
“The first panacea for a mismanaged nation is inflation of the currency; the second is war. Both bring a temporary prosperity; both bring a permanent ruin. But both are the refuge of political and economic opportunists.”
—Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961)